For the first time in Alushta!

Of course I often visited Alushta in the past — but I never played in Alushta GM Title chess tournaments until now, though there were some invitations. But, finally, appeared a free time, and I decided to play and have a rest in Alushta, and agreed to take a part in a round-robin tournament in«Kaissa» boarding house. I must say that conditions are perfect. Here we accommodate, feed and play chess. The tournament room is not very big, but comfortable and good alight. The atmosphere is very friendly. I feel that the all staff of boarding house and organizers of tournament do the all possible to create good conditions for us. Before the tournament I thought that I can have a good rest here. Will play some games for a win to avoid losing the ELO points, and will make short draws in other games. But then our tournament began, and my hopes about the rest started to disappear. It didn't mater that I was the rating favourite of the tournament. I had to struggle for every half of point. On some days we played two rounds a day, so it was not easy. And after one of my opponents refused to make a short draw, it became not comfortable for me to propose a draw to other players. I could not surprise anyone by my rating and authority. Everyone wanted to fight, thought that he is a big talent. And the fight here is very tense. Now I understand why so many chess players who scored their norms in Alushta have improve their chess level so quickly. Among those who made GM norms here were Radjabov, Moiseenko, Eljanov, Karjakin, Miroshnichenko, Fedorchuk, Malakhatko, Riazantsev, Gashimov, Inarkiev, Yevseev, Areshchenko, Efimenko and a lot of others. I wish to everyone who played in Alushta and to those who will play here in the future a lot of successes!